Making Sense Of the Eagles’ Inactives

The following Eagles are inactive for Sunday night’s game against the Cowboys: Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy, Nate Menkin, Chris Polk, Marvin McNutt and Greg Salas.

That means Dallas Reynolds and Fletcher Cox will both dress. Reynolds suffered an ankle injury last week vs. Carolina. He’ll start at center with Evan Mathis at left guard and King Dunlap at left tackle. Jake Scott once again gets the start at right guard, and Dennis Kelly will be at right tackle. Marty Mornhinweg said earlier this week that Watkins was healthy, but it looks like he’ll be a backup, along with Matt Tennant and Demetress Bell (swing tackle).

Cox was listed as questionable with a tailbone injury. He was also dealing with a death in the family, but will dress and play. With Jason Babin gone, here are the Eagles’ five defensive ends: Trent Cole, Brandon Graham, Vinny Curry, Darryl Tapp and Phillip Hunt. At tackle, along with Cox, the Eagles have Cullen Jenkins, Mike Patterson, Derek Landri and Cedric Thornton.

Vick continues to recover from the concussion he sustained in the Nov. 11 meeting against the Cowboys. He is in Phase 4 of the Eagles’ five-phase program (more details here). Nick Foles will make his third consecutive start.

McCoy is recovering from a concussion he sustained on Nov. 18 against the Redskins. Bryce Brown, who turned in a 19-carry, 178-yard performance last week against the Panthers, will start in McCoy’s place and should see a heavy workload. Dion Lewis will spell him occasionally.

The Eagles placed DeSean Jackson on injured reserve last week after he suffered fractured ribs against Carolina. They have four wide receivers active: Jeremy Maclin, Riley Cooper, Jason Avant and Damaris Johnson. Salas and McNutt are both inactive.